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It’s the first full day of spring. But if you’ve been on the roads, you know it’s been pothole season all winter. So far Niagara region has spent double what it usually does on pothole patching. And the damaging spring thaw hasn’t even happened yet.

It’s the sound every car owner dreads — hitting potholes that damage tires, bend rims and send hub caps flying.

At Niagara Battery and Tire they’ve seen six times the number of pothole damaged tires and rims this year.

Replacement can cost $200 or more. Gord Singleton is with Niagara Battery and Tire: “A friend of mine last week with a very expensive car hit a nasty pothole and it was nearly 2 thousand dollars.”

Along Glendale Avenue in St. Catharines crews are just patching for now.

There have been so many potholes this winter they’ve already used 300 tons of fill — double what they would normally use. Most of this damage isn’t caused by a thaw — it’s caused by the relentless freeze.

Ralph Scholz is with the Niagara region: “That the water’s being pushed up from the frost. The temperature has gone down so quickly they’ve actually lifted the pavement off.”

It’s been cold this winter. Just look at the numbers. Twenty eight cold weather alert days so far this year. Only four last year.

Even Hamilton is feeling the pothole pinch. The city’s spent 50 percent more on pothole patching than it did last year.

And all over Ontario municipalities will have to dig even deeper into their repair budgets because the spring thaw hasn’t happened yet.